Above article publish on http://www.articlesbase.com/wellness-articles/great-solutions-ehr-software-1957411.html

Unless you have done your homework on what makes a top-notch EHR system, you’re liable to have a hard time choosing which company to go with. Because of this, you’ll be more susceptible to a software company’s fancy sales pitches on why their software is the greatest ever, even though it’s actually quite dismal.

To aid you in your search for the top EHR companies, there are a few key factors you need to look for before making your investment. Some companies may satisfy one or two of these factors, but the best vendors will satisfy all of them. This is the second in a series of two articles that will cover five important factors to look for in EHR software.

In the first article of the series, we discussed two of the five factors to look for in high-quality electronic health records—1) buying true EHR software and 2) buying integrated EHR software—and this time we’ll address the last three factors. After reading both articles in the series, you’ll have a solid base of knowledge for making what can be one of the most important investments for your chiropractic practice.

5 Factors that Make for Top-Quality EHR Software

3. Fulfilling third-party payer requirements: It’s not enough that EHR software digitize all of your paper records and documents—the system should also meet or exceed all of the requirements demanded by Medicare and other third-party payers. While it’s important that the company you go with has the technological know-how to build a highly advanced software system, it’s equally vital that your EHR company have a complete and thorough knowledge of all of the rules and regulations regarding third-party payers and has designed their software around this knowledge. Moroever, the software should also be regularly updated to ensure you’ll continue to meet third-party payer standards as they evolve and change in the future.

4. Customizable: Depending on the size of your practice and the way in which your work, a software system that’s excellent for one of your fellow DCs might not be the best fit for your office. For this reason, you should go with EHR companies that allow you to customize your software to get the features and components you really need and not have to buy those you have no use for. Such systems are often modular in design, so you can buy the features you need—or can afford—now and then add on others down the road. Furthermore, the software’s documentation features should also be customizable, so the system will fit efficiently with your practice’s workflow. You shouldn’t have to change the entire way in which you work when switching to EHR; instead, the system should be built in a way that both accommodates and maximizes your own documentation style.

5. Designed for chiropractors: Today, the entire healthcare industry is rapidly moving toward digital health records. Because of this, many EHR companies have sprung up to help everyone make the switch to a paperless practice. As a chiropractor, however, you should only go with a company that designs their software specifically for DCs. Some companies may claim their systems will work for all types of healthcare practices, but in reality, chiropractic clinics have many unique needs that can’t be met with a generic EHR system. Make sure the company you select has designed their software to work specifically with the procedures, workflow, and language used by chiropractors.

above article publish on http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8704/1100/5-factors-to-look-for-when-investing-in-ehr-software-part-ii-of-ii/

Unless you have done your homework on what makes a top-notch EHR system, you’re liable to have a hard time choosing which company to go with. Because of this, you’ll be more susceptible to a software company’s fancy sales pitches on why their software is the greatest ever, even though it’s actually quite dismal.

To aid you in your search for the top EHR companies, there are a few key factors you need to look for before making your investment. Some companies may satisfy one or two of these factors, but the best vendors will satisfy all of them. This is the second in a series of two articles that will cover five important factors to look for in EHR software.

In the first article of the series, we discussed two of the five factors to look for in high-quality electronic health records—1) buying true EHR software and 2) buying integrated EHR software—and this time we’ll address the last three factors. After reading both articles in the series, you’ll have a solid base of knowledge for making what can be one of the most important investments for your chiropractic practice.

5 Factors that Make for Top-Quality EHR Software

3. Fulfilling third-party payer requirements: It’s not enough that EHR software digitize all of your paper records and documents—the system should also meet or exceed all of the requirements demanded by Medicare and other third-party payers. While it’s important that the company you go with has the technological know-how to build a highly advanced software system, it’s equally vital that your EHR company have a complete and thorough knowledge of all of the rules and regulations regarding third-party payers

and has designed their software around this knowledge. Moroever, the software should also be regularly updated to ensure you’ll continue to meet third-party payer standards as they evolve and change in the future.

4. Customizable: Depending on the size of your practice and the way in which your work, a software system that’s excellent for one of your fellow DCs might not be the best fit for your office. For this reason, you should go with EHR companies that allow you to customize your software to get the features and components you really need and not have to buy those you have no use for. Such systems are often modular in design, so you can buy the features you need—or can afford—now and then add on others down the road. Furthermore, the software’s documentation features should also be customizable, so the system will fit efficiently with your practice’s workflow. You shouldn’t have to change the entire way in which you work when switching to EHR; instead, the system should be built in a way that both accommodates and maximizes your own documentation style.

5. Designed for chiropractors: Today, the entire healthcare industry is rapidly moving toward digital health records. Because of this, many EHR companies have sprung up to help everyone make the switch to a paperless practice. As a chiropractor, however, you should only go with a company that designs their software specifically for DCs. Some companies may claim their systems will work for all types of healthcare practices, but in reality, chiropractic clinics have many unique needs that can’t be met with a generic EHR system. Make sure the company you select has designed their software to work specifically with the procedures, workflow, and language used by chiropractors.

Above article published on http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8704/1100/5-factors-to-look-for-when-investing-in-EHR-software:-Part-II-of-II/

The Certification Commission for Health Information Technology next year plans to develop a “site certification” program for hospitals and physician groups that use self-developed EHRs or a mix of commercial and proprietary applications, says Mark Leavitt, M.D., chair of the Chicago-based organization. The effort also will offer certification for those organizations that use an older, commercial clinical system that’s been heavily customized, he notes.

Although it has not yet been officially designated as an official EHR certifying body under the incentive program called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, CCHIT already is developing a new certification program designed to measure whether software is compliant with the yet-to-be-finalized federal “meaningful use” EHR standards. The site certification component will feature sliding-scale pricing to make it affordable to providers of various sizes, Leavitt says.

“Site certification is designed to help the early adopters who were EHR pioneers,” Leavitt adds.

The site certification effort won’t start until the middle of next year once the final “meaningful use” rules are enacted. CCHIT, however, will begin accepting applications Oct. 7 for its “ARRA 2011 Certification” program for vendors’ EHRs. That program is based on the proposed rules the government expects to publish in December.

Government regulators are considering a proposal to authorize multiple EHR certification programs. Leavitt says he’s confident the government will designate CCHIT as an official certifier of meaningful use for the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs. He also says it’s “not clear why others would want to launch” certification efforts. He points out that CCHIT is a not-for-profit group and contends that it would be difficult for others to start from scratch and cover their costs, much less make a profit.

CCHIT also is continuing with its longstanding effort to certify vendors’ EHRs for meeting a set of criteria much broader than the anticipated “meaningful use” standards. The criteria for the updated “CCHIT Certified 2011″ program will become “more rigorous,” Leavitt says. For example, vendors will need to prove that the application has been up and running at two sites for at least 45 days. Plus certifiers will, for the first time, assess the “usability” of EHR software for ambulatory care settings.

Above article published on

http://www.healthdatamanagement.com/news/certification-39166-1.html?ET=healthdatamanagement:e1036:156215a:&st=email

The leading EHR systems are loaded with a wealth of features designed to not only create an efficient paperless practice, but also help with several other office applications, such as billing, scheduling, data security, office management, and even patient education. This article will focus on how EHR software can enhance a DC’s ability to educate patients on chiropractic care, thereby saving the practice even more time and money, while also generating added patient trust and revenue.

You want to do what with my spine?

Because the spine and its surrounding structures are a highly complex system with a wide array of functions, it’s often difficult and time consuming to explain the nature of chiropractic care to patients and potential patients. Lacking serious medical knowledge, patients can easily become confused when a DC attempts to detail their condition and treatment.

This not only takes up lots of time, but in many instances, a DC’s ability to clearly explain the nature of a particular musculoskeletal issue and how chiropractic treatment will improve this condition, can be a deciding factor in whether a patient decides to undergo treatment or look elsewhere. This can be especially true for some patients, who may be skeptical of chiropractic’s validity.

Education made easy

However, the top EHR software systems offer special patient-education features that can solve these problems and win over even the most stubborn patients. The education features offer a comprehensive collection of tools and resources, such as high-definition videos covering hundreds of chiropractic conditions and exercises, dozens of anatomical illustrations and posters, personalized treatment reports, and several other high-tech applications. All of the features work together to facilitate a patient’s understanding of what chiropractic care will involve and how it will help their specific condition.

Moreover, the top EHR patient-education modules integrate their education features with all of the practice’s other EHR components, allowing the DC to add videos to documentation notes, print out personalized handouts for patients to take home, and customize the education system with additional data and video from a DC’s own personal collection. Such progressive technology will impress patients and make them feel like they’re receiving the most advanced level of care, while also encouraging them to remain compliant with their care plan.

Convincing evidence

Such technology makes your diagnosis easier to understand and also highly objective, so it doesn’t appear you’re trying to “oversell” unnecessary treatments. To this end, the EHR education features provide “hard evidence” supporting your diagnosis and proposed treatment, so you’ll have high-tech documentation backing your treatment options.

In this way, the visual and printed resources provided by EHR education tools, not only stand to educate, but they can also increase patient trust in your diagnosis and treatment abilities. And with increased trust comes increased compliance, increased patient rolls—and ultimately increased revenue for your practice.

Above article published on

http://www.chiroeco.com/chiropractic/news/8349/1100/Go-paperless-and-win-over-patients-with-EHRs/